392 



NA TURE 



[August i8, 1904 



viiechanism of respiratory combustion. The production of 

 ■citric acid by citromyces : P. Maze and A. Perrier. — On 

 .the law of Bravais and the reticular hypothesis : G. 

 Friedel. — On the lode of heavy spar called " la Chandelette," 

 near Villefort : Marcel Guedras. — On the evolution of the 

 zone of sub-Carpathian depressions in Roumania : E. 

 de Martonne. — The relation between seismic phenomena 

 .and the geological age of a chain or region : M. de 

 Montessus de Ballore. — On the property possessed by 

 certain portions of the human body of continually giving 

 out a ponderable emanation : Julien Meyer. — New facts on 

 ;the rSle of the nervous system in the function of the heart : 

 Jean Dosiel and K. Arkanguelsky. — Toxic substances 

 extracted from the eggs of the tortoise and of the hen : 

 Gustave Loisel. — Researches on the poison of bees : C. 

 Phisalix. — On the bactericidal properties of the secretions 

 of parasitic worms : L. Jammes and H. Mandoul. — On 

 rthe infectious nature of the anajmia of the horse: .M.\l. 

 Vallee and Carre. 



August 8. — M. Mascart in the chair. — On the changes of 

 curvature exhibited by the air bubble in spirit levels, under 

 ithe influence of temperature variations : G. Big:ourdan. 

 A particular level, used on a telescope mounting, showed con- 

 siderable variations in its constant with temperature. This 

 was traced to the effect of the expansion of the metallic 

 tube in which it was mounted, and the conclusion is drawn 

 that for work of precision it is necessary to reject this 

 form of mounting, and to use instead a nickel steel possess- 

 ing an expansion equal to that of the glass. — The general 

 equations of motion of sheets of water infiltrated through 

 the soil : J. Boussinesq. A continuation of a previous 

 paper on the same subject. Certain restrictions laid down 

 in the first note are removed, and the results worked out 

 'to a higher degree of approximation. — On some results 

 recently obtained by metrophotography : A. Laussedat. 

 Some additional results obtained with the apparatus of 

 Pulfrich by the method of parallaxes. In the Tyrol, two 

 •photographs, with a base of 254 metres, have proved 

 sufficient to construct the greater part of a map of the 

 'district on the scale of 1/25,000, including mountains of a 

 height of more than 3000 metres, and 8 kilometres distance 

 from the base. The apparatus has also been successfully 

 applied in Canada. — On the use of a movable reference 

 'tetrahedron in the geometry of Cayley : A. Demoulin. — 

 On groups of the order p'", of which all the subgroups /'"-- 

 are Abelian : M. Potron. — On a theorem of M. Borel in 

 the theory of integral functions : M. Remoundos. — On the 

 loss of electricity in the air observed at the summit of the 

 Eiffel Tower during the storm of August 4 : A. B. 

 Chauveau. — The theory of dilute solutions, based on the 

 law of van 't Hoff : E. Aries. — On the permanence of 

 crystalline forms in crystals : F. Osmond and G. Cartaud. 

 — New researches on vanadium steels : L^on Guillet. 

 Normal vanadium steels are not more fragile than ordinary 

 steels containing the same percentage of carbon. They are 

 ■very sensitive to thermal and mechanical treatment. — On 

 some derivatives of pentabasic phosphoric acid ; P. 

 Lemoult. — On dimethylpyroarsenic acid : E. Baud. — On 

 'the existence of alkaline rocks in Central Africa : Louis 

 Gentil. 



New South Wales. 

 Linnean Society, June 29. — Dr. T. Storie Dixson, presi- 



•dent, in the chair. — Descriptions of Australian Micro- 

 lepidoptera, xviii., Gelechiadae : E. Meyrick, F.R.S. 

 This family forms a smaller proportion of the Tineina in 

 the Australian region than it does in Europe, amounting, 

 perhaps, to about 12 per cent, of the whole. As, however, 

 the species are often retired in habit, small, inconspicuous, 

 and rather difficult to study, they have been much neglected, 

 and may perhaps prove eventually to be more relatively 

 numerous than they seem at present. Fortunately only 

 seven species were known to Walker, others assigned by 

 him to this family being wrongly attributed. Mr. O. Lower 

 has in late years described some number ; he has very kindly 

 transmitted specimens of all these (frequently the actual 

 types) for examination, so that the author has been able to 

 ascertain positively their identity in all cases ; this assist- 

 ance has been most valuable. Much material in specimens 

 :and notes of localities has also been received from him, as 



NO. 18 I 6, VOL. 70] 



well as from Mr. G. Lyell, the late Mr. G. Barnard, and 

 other collectors whose records are duly acknowledged in 

 rheir place. Altogether 274 species are here recorded, of 

 which 207 are now described as new. Of this total, 85 

 species, or not much less than a third, are included in the 

 endemic genus Protolechia, but no other strictly endemic 

 genus attains any large size, though 40 out of the 55 genera 

 are endemic, so far as is known. — A variable galactan 

 bacterium : Dr. R. Greig Smith. A bacterium isolated 

 from the tissues of a species of Strychnos grew on gelatin 

 as brittle moruloid colonies which contained an insoluble 

 gum. Cultivation at 30° C. caused the organism rapidly to 

 lose the faculty of forming this insoluble gum. A soluble 

 gum was produced instead, and the colonies in consequence 

 became gummy and otherwise uncharacteristic. The gums 

 from both forms of bacteria were galactans, and differed 

 only in solubility. — The red string of the sugar-cane : Dr. 

 R. Greig Smith. Instances of the vascular strings of the 

 sugar-cane being coloured a deep red from the presence of 

 a red gum in the large vessels have been recorded in con- 

 nection with certain diseases, such as sereh, the sugar-cane 

 disease of Massee, the pine-apple disease of the cane, and 

 red smut (red rot), in all of which it has been denied that 

 bacteria produce the gum. The cases of red string investi- 

 gated by the author occurred in apparently healthy plants, 

 and also in canes affected with gummosis. The gum was 

 produced by Bacillus pseudarabiitus, n.sp., and the crimson 

 colour was imparted to it by a mould. The co-existence of 

 the two is essential for the production of the colour in the 

 vessels of the sugar-cane. Both organisms are described in 

 detail. The gum gave the reactions for arabin, but as it 

 hydrolysed to galactose only it was a galactan. 



CONTENTS. PACE 



Scientific \A/orthies. XXXIV.— Lord Rayleigh. 



{ll'/Z/i Poi/i-ait.) 361 



Physique and Education. By Sir Hugh R. Beevor, 



Bart. 363 



Fish- Passes and Fish-Ponds. By Frank Balfour 



Browne 364 



Our Book Shelf :— 



Taylor : " Photographic Chemicals and How to Make 



Them" 365 



Bellenoux : " Dictionnaire des Engiais et des Produits 



chiniiquesagricoles" 365 



de Nansouty : " Actualites scientifiques " 366 



Lf tiers to the Editor : — 



An Optical Phenomenon. — Fred J. Hillig 366 



The Celiic Pony.— Dr. Francis H. A. Marshall . . 366 



The Needs of Anthropology at Cambridge 366 



British Association Meeting at Cambridge 367 



Inaugural Address by the Right Hon. A. J. Balfour, 

 D.C.L., LL.D., M.P,, F.R.S. , Chancellor of the 

 University of Edinburgh, President of the Associa- 

 tion 368 



Section A.— Mathemalics and Physics. — Opening 

 Address by Prof. Horace Lamb, LL.D., D.Sc, 



F.R.S., President of the Section 372 



Section B.— Chemistry. — Opening Address by Prof. 

 Sydney Young, D.Sc, F.R.S., President of ihe 



Section 377 



Section C— Geology.— Opening Address by Aubrey 

 Strahan, M.A., F.R.S., President of Ihe Section 3S2 



Notes .187 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



The Return of Tempel's Second (1S73) Ccmct . . . 390 



Spectra of Neptune and Uranus 39° 



The Variable Radial Velocity of 5 Orionis 390 



The Solar Surface during 1903 39i 



University and Educational Intelligence ... .391 

 Si ci( ties and Academies 39' 



